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Proteases precisely and irreversibly catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds, regulating the fate, localization, and activity of many proteins. Consequently, proteolytic activity plays an important role in fundamental cellular processes such as differentiation and migration, immunological and inflammatory reactions, apoptosis and survival. During virus infection, host proteases are involved in several processes, from cell entry to initiation, progression and resolution of inflammation. On the other hand, many viruses encode their own highly specific proteases, responsible for the proteolytic processing of viral proteins, but, at the same time, to cleave host proteins to corrupt antiviral host responses and adjust protein activity to favor viral replication. Traditionally, protease substrate identification has been addressed by means of hypothesis-driven approaches, but recent advances in proteomics have made a toolkit available to uncover the extensive repertoire of host proteins cleaved during infection, either by viral or host proteases. Here, we review the currently available proteomics-based methods that can and have contributed to the systematic and unbiased identification of new protease substrates in the context of virus-host interactions. The role of specific proteases during the course of virus infections will also be highlighted.

In recent decades, the Brazilian Cerrado biome has been affected by intense land-use change, particularly the conversion of natural forest to agricultural land. Understanding the environmental impacts of this land-use change on landscape hydrological dynamics is one of the main challenges in the Amazon agricultural frontier, where part of the Brazilian Cerrado biome is located and where most of the deforestation has occurred. This study uses empirical data from field measurements to characterize controls on hydrological processes from three first-order micro-catchments < 1 km2 in the Cerrado biome. These micro-catchments were selected on the basis of predominant land use including native cerrado vegetation, pasture grass with cattle ranching, and cash crop land. We continuously monitored precipitation, streamflow, soil moisture, and meteorological variables from October 2012 to September 2014. Additionally, we determined the physical and hydraulic properties of the soils, and conducted topographic surveys. We used these data to quantify the water balance components of the study catchments and to relate these water fluxes to land use, catchment physiographic parameters, and soil hydrophysical properties. The results of this study show that runoff coefficients were 0.27, 0.40, and 0.16 for the cerrado, pasture, and cropland catchments, respectively. Baseflow is shown to play a significant role in streamflow generation in the three study catchments, with baseflow index values of more than 0.95. The results also show that evapotranspiration was highest in the cerrado (986 mm yr−1) compared to the cropland (828 mm yr−1) and the pasture (532 mm yr−1). However, discharges in the cropland catchment were unexpectedly lower than that of the cerrado catchment. The normalized discharge was 55 % higher and 57 % lower in the pasture and cropland catchments, respectively, compared with the cerrado catchment. We attribute this finding to the differences in soil type and topographic characteristics, and low-till farming techniques in the cropland catchment, additionally to the buffering effect of the gallery forests in these catchments. Although the results of this study provide a useful assessment of catchment rainfall–runoff controls in the Brazilian Cerrado landscape, further research is required to include quantification of the influence of the gallery forests on both hydrological and hydrochemical fluxes, which are important for watershed management and ecosystem services provisioning.

Fuel Assembly Monitoring System (FAMOS) was developed to set up a NDA method for the characterization of light water reactor fuel assemblies. The applied active/passive monitoring system made total characterization of fuel assemblies possible, without any previous knowledge of fuel assembly data or reactor operating data. FAMOS III measurement system was especially developed for the determination of fuel assembly burn-up which is suitable for the control of the acceptance criteria in the so-called La Hague measurements.

To compare results from testosterone radioimmunoassay kits commonly used by commercial laboratories as well as their reference ranges and to analyze the scientific literature for ranges of serum testosterone levels in normal women and those with hyperandrogenism.We reviewed quality assurance reports of various testosterone ligand challenges from four groups of laboratories and summarized testosterone data from 17 published reports about normal women and 14 studies of hyperandrogenic women.A significant variability was demonstrated between the radioimmunoassay kits at all concentrations (for example, a sample with a mean testosterone level of 96.1 ng/dL was reported by some laboratories as containing 71.8 ng/dL and by others as 123.4 ng/dL). All laboratories provide essentially the same "reference range" (approximately 10 to 90 ng/dL) but do not report how the range was established. The scientific literature clearly shows a significant separation in serum testosterone levels between normal (that is, not hyperandrogenic) and hyperandrogenic women. Most hyperandrogenic women had testosterone levels50 ng/dL, whereas most normal control subjects had levels40 ng/dL. Thus, most of these women with hyperandrogenism would have been considered to have normal testosterone levels if the reference ranges of commercial laboratories were used.These data illustrate the difficulty that physicians face when they are required to use different commercial laboratories to measure serum testosterone levels. We propose that (1) reference ranges be established on a clinically defined population for each hormone and method used, (2) laboratory reports include information about method and reference range population, and (3) physicians be allowed to choose which laboratories are used for their patients' hormone determinations, for consistency of results.

Expandieren war die strategische Zielvorgabe bei vielen Finanzinstituten im zuruckliegenden Jahrzehnt — vor allem uber externes Wachstum durch Kauf oder Beteiligung an in- und auslandischen Wettbewerbern, durch Grundung von Direktbanken. Seit die Borsen- und Kapitalmarkte weltweit stark unter Druck geraten sind, gilt „Konsolidieren“ als dominierendes Ziel bei der strategischen Neuausrichtung der meisten Branchen, besonders in der Finanz- und Versicherungsbranche in Deutschland. Die gerade in unserem Lande zuvor nur schleppend in Gang gekommenen strukturellen Anpassungsprozesse sind nunmehr umso radikaler nachzuholen. Kapazitatsanpassungen bzw. die Konzentration auf Kernaktivitaten werden bei dieser Lage in nahezu allen Geschaftsfeldern der „Finanzkonglomerate“ und „Versicherungsbanken“ gleichzeitig erzwungen. Fur die personalintensive Finanzbranche heist das vor allem Personalabbau.

This book contains a selection of contributions presented at an international symposium on "Land Use, Nature Conservation and the Stability of Rainforest Margins in Southeast Asia," in Bogor, Indonesia, October 2002. It highlights the critical issue of rainforest preservation from an interdisciplinary perspective, comprising input from scientists in socio-economic, biological, geographical, agrarian and forestry disciplines.

Radioactively contaminated land and its remediation is a growing sector of the Nuclear Business. The contamination is often associated with both naturally occurring and man-made radionuclides. A significant proportion of the waste contains only small amounts or low concentrations of radionuclides, and therefore much of the remediated material can be considered to be for “free release”. It has often not been possible to get adequate specific information on these materials, so a monitoring system is needed for their classification and characterisation. At the former Fuel Fabrication Facility NUKEM-Old in Hanau, Germany, all process equipment and installations were dismantled, building structure surfaces have been decontaminated. After final measurements of building contamination, mainly applying in-situ gamma-spectrometry, and approval for “free release”, or for dumping the material, all buildings were demolished. Since then, an Automated Soil Segregation System is being successfully used for the segregation and measuring of the remaining 20.000 tonnes of radioactively contaminated, or at least suspicious soil material, building foundations and sewerage system components.Copyright © 2003 by ASME

Der Vorgang der Problemidentifizierung stellt sicher, das das eigentliche Problem in den Mittelpunkt des Interesses geruckt wird. Eine Behandlung von Randsymptomen oder offensichtlichen, aber unbedeutenden Problemen wird so vermieden. Es ist selbstverstandlich, das eine genaue Identifikation des Problems seine sorgfaltige Analyse voraussetzt.

In den folgenden Abschnitten wollen wir Sie bei Ihren KPL-Aktivitaten zu mehr Intuition ermutigen. Um Ihnen Ihre Entscheidungen bei der Wahl der fur Ihre spezifischen Probleme geeigneten KPL-Techniken zu erleichtern, bieten wir Ihnen im Anhang eine Zusammenfassung der verschiedenen KPL-Prozesse an. Diese tabellarische Ubersicht soll Ihnen als Quick-Start-Referenz bei Ihren kreativen Problemlosungsreisen dienen.

Hauptaufgaben der Organisationsfuhrung sind das Lenken, Steuern und Kontrollieren. Dies ist auch bei Aktivitaten im KPL-Prozes der Fall. Die Aktivitaten wahrend der Produktentwicklung sind besonders schwierig zu kontrollieren. Diese Schwierigkeiten erwachsen hauptsachlich aus der naturlichen Ungewissheit uber die Ergebnisse in einem KPL-Prozes. Wie schon diskutiert, ist es nicht einfach, die Ergebnisse im KPL-Prozes zuverlassig vorauszusagen, z.B. konnte der Entwicklungsprototyp nicht in allen Funktionen auf Anhieb der marktgerechten Spezifikation entsprechen.

Die Auswahl der Alternativen wird im allgemeinen als rationaler Denkprozes betrachtet. Die Kriterien fur diesen Vorgang wurden im KPL — Prozes schon wahrend der Identifizierungsphase festgelegt. Nun mussen sie die verschiedenen Losungsalternativen mit den festgelegten Kriterien vergleichen. Danach mussen Sie sich fur die, aus Ihrer Sicht, beste Alternative entscheiden. Das Auswahlen der Ideen wird in zwei Phasen durchgefuhrt. Wahrend der ersten Phase wird die Vertraglichkeit der Kreativitat mit der Zielsetzung und den daraufbezogenen Einschrankungen der Organisation uberpruft. In der zweiten Phase wird die Idee nach der Effektivitat ihrer potentiellen Wirkung bewertet. Teil der Entscheidungsbasis fur eine erfolgreiche Produktinnovation sollte eine professionelle Marktuntersuchung sein. Bei einer Prozes-, Markting- und Fuhrungsinnovation mus auch die potentielle Auswirkung auf die gesamte Organisation berucksichtigt werden. Die angestrebten Wettbewerbsvorteile und Kernkompetenzen resultieren haufig aus einer Kombination der o.g. Aspekte.

Die Losung von Problemen ist ein integraler Bestandteil jeden organisierten Lebens in unserer Gesellschaft. Wenn die Leitung des Betriebes Personal fuhrt, um Produkte oder Dienstleistungen herzustellen, dann werden dabei immer Probleme gelost und Entscheidungen getroffen. Wenn Mitarbeiter aktiv werden, um Kosten zu senken oder neue Produkte zu ermitteln, wenn sie versuchen, in irgendeiner Form die Ablaufe in der Organisation zu verbessern, kommt es zu einer Problemlosung. Ob dieser Problem-Losungs-Prozes schon kreativ genannt werden kann, soll weiter unten Gegenstand der Diskussion sein.

Eine der einfachsten und schnellsten Moglichkeiten, um die Innovationsleistung eines Unternehmens zu steigern, ist es, die Problemlosungsfahigkeit der Mitarbeiter zu fordern und zu entwickeln. Eine Vielzahl der Mitarbeiter tendiert zu der irrigen Auffassung, das nur „wenige“ in der Lage sind, intuitiv-kreative Fahigkeiten zu entwickeln.

Viele Menschen nehmen die Existenz eines Problems erst wahr, wenn sie das Ziel nicht erreicht haben bzw. erkennen, das sie das angestrebte Ziel nicht erreichen werden. Der Zweck der unterschiedlichen, der Kontrolle dienenden Berichte besteht vorrangig in der Bereitstellung derartiger Soll-Ist-Vergleichsmoglichkeiten.